Online Writing Center

Widget

Connect

Apr 25, 2018

Strengthen Your Writing Skills

Get the help you need in identifying, understanding, and improving your academic writing strengths and weaknesses. The Online Writing Center helps online students at all levels of English writing proficiency. Let our trained peer tutors and knowledgeable staff help you with your writing needs. We look forward to serving you and helping you grow as a writer. Please familiarize yourself with our services, policies, tutorials, and resources before using our services:

The draft review option (formerly called offline assistance) allows you to upload one Microsoft Word draft per assignment to be reviewed by a trained tutor and returned with suggestions for improvement, including links to resources and writing aids specific to your needs.

Hours

Drafts may be submitted 24/7 using the Request Tutoring link under the policies below.

For targeted reviews where you choose only one aspect of tutor focus, feedback will be given within 24 hours from the time of submission for 1-10 pages, 48 hours for 11-20 pages, and an additional 24 hours for every 1-10 pages thereafter.

For full reviews, feedback will be given within 48 hours from the time of submission for 1-10 pages, 72 hours for 11-20 pages, and an additional 24 hours for every 1-10 pages thereafter.

**Note that all pages count toward review time (including title page, abstract, and references list).

Policies

One draft review is permitted per assignment, whether a targeted or full review. Drafts already containing comments will not be reviewed. Already graded papers will not be reviewed without prior permission from the instructor to the OWC.

Tutors will only review 20 pages, and the first few reference pages, of longer drafts submitted during Weeks 7 and 8 of B Term and D Term.

Group projects may only be submitted if the student clearly identifies the portion that he or she has written. In keeping with the OWC's mission of improving an individual's writing skills, each student will receive a review only of the section identified as his or her own.

Theses, dissertations, and capstone projects will not be reviewed for format or style issues. Only the first 20 pages of lengthy assignments from end-of-program courses will be reviewed. APA dissertation proposals should be sent to Kristen Dang for review instead of the OWC. Please use your Liberty email address when contacting Kristen. Refer EDUC or COUN dissertation inquiries to Kristen, not the OWC. You will receive a reply to your email within 48 hours.

Editing & plagiarism disclaimers: OWC tutors will not edit papers or point out every single error but will note patterns of error and provide instruction, explanations, examples, and links to resources. OWC staff may not be held responsible for recognizing plagiarism or interpreting Safe Assign scores but will note any improper citations, documentation, or formatting.

Hours

Requests for appointments may be submitted 24/7 using the Request Tutoring link under the policies below. Skype appointments must be made two days in advance and must fall between 8 a.m. and midnight, Eastern Time. If you are in another time zone, you are responsible for calculating your own local appointment time.

Policies

Skype appointments may be made for a maximum of 1 hour per day 3 times per week and require a headset or microphone and speakers. The more available dates and times you provide, the more likely you will be to get an appointment. Use the link in your confirmation email from the OWC to access your request form and attach a revised draft up to an hour before your appointment.

Please be respectful of your tutor's time and cancel the request prior to the appointment time if you cannot make it. To cancel a request, click the "cancel" at the bottom of your request form.

Before the appointment, download Skype. Make sure your Internet connection is strong, incoming and outgoing audio is fully functional, and Skype privacy settings allow all users to contact you. Make sure you will not be interrupted, are in a quiet environment with no distractions, and have prepared questions and concerns about your paper to discuss with your tutor.

During the appointment, make sure you take notes, make changes to your draft, type tutor suggestions on your draft, and/or use an app to record the session.

After the appointment, you will receive your draft back with general comments summarizing points of discussion and/or links to recommended resources rather than specific explanations and instruction.

GRST 500/501 is designed to be taken in conjunction with at least one other course and is an 8-week writing course, created to equip you with the organization and revision skills necessary to produce good graduate-level writing. It does not require purchasing a textbook and has a pass/fail format to give students a low-stress and low-pressure educational experience.

GRST 500: Introduction to Graduate Writing is a required course for all online graduate students who have been conditionally accepted or are on academic caution.

GRST 501: Graduate Writing is an optional course for online graduate students who are NOT on academic caution but are still apprehensive about future graduate-level writing assignments.

Either course costs $100 for the entire course. No textbook purchase is necessary and financial aid may be applied for the course fee.

Reviewed Paper

To access your reviewed paper, click the link to your completed request in your notification email and locate the document next to "Tutor Revised Copy." Click on the paper clip to the left of the document box then click the small gray paper clip that appears to select "download" and access your paper. You may need to adjust your pop-up blocker or hold down the ctrl button to download your reviewed paper.

Tutor's Comments

To read the tutor's comments on your paper, click on each individual comment. This will automatically highlight the word, punctuation, or phrase to which the comment is attached so you can easily understand the tutor's advice.

If tutor comments do not appear to be visible, double-check whether "All Markup" is selected in the drop-down menu under the Review tab’s tracking options and that all items are checked under the "Show Markup" drop-down menu.

Try using different browsers such as Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, or Mozilla Firefox.

If you are trying to access the form from a place of business or from an institution-owned laptop, there may be a network firewall preventing your access. If so, speak with your IT personnel or log in from a personal device or location.

If none of the methods above work, please contact Helpdesk at (866) 447-2869.

Online Instructors

The number of tutors is limited, so we ask that instructors only recommend the use of the Online Writing Center to students that need or want help and not require students to use the service for specific assignments. Please do not offer extra credit to students for using the service.